Brass Tactics, the RTS from Defense Grid 2 (2016) studio Hidden Path Entertainment, was first teased at GDC earlier this year where they showed off their miniature tabletop world of war. As an Oculus platform exclusive, Brass Tactics is now available for pre-order on the Oculus Store with an October 19th launch date. 

Inspired by the iconic visual style made popular by the Game of Thrones opening sequence, which features buildings growing out of the ground in a recognizable clockwork fashion, Brass Tactics promises to deliver familiar RTS gameplay with a ‘VR twist’ that aims to immerse you in the tiny diorama world of filled with all manner of steampunk-ish units including legged tanks, clockwork wasps, archers, and tiny toy soldiers.

Created by the lead designer of Age of Empires II: Age of Kings, the game puts a twist on classic RTS gameplay by letting you grab structures and place them on the battlefield, and direct your units with your own two hands. In our hands-on at GDC, we had fun firing boulders with the game’s giant catapult that you can launch manually with the Touch controllers.

‘Brass Tactics’ on Rift

Brass Tactics is the studio’s third VR title, following Witchblood (2017) and Defense Grid 2: Enhanced VR Edition (2016). In an Oculus blogpost, Hidden Path CEO Jeff Probst says RTSs have “never been this social. Seeing the avatar of your opponent or partner in the world—watching your opponent slump when they know they’ve been beaten or rescuing a friend in co-op when they called for help—these are things that just haven’t been experienced in RTS before, ever.”

SEE ALSO
Hands-on: 'Action Hero' Revives 'SUPERHOT' with a Clever Premise

Brass Tactics offers both co-op and PvP mode, and is currently on pre-order for a 15% discounted price of $25.

Newsletter graphic

This article may contain affiliate links. If you click an affiliate link and buy a product we may receive a small commission which helps support the publication. More information.


Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Raphael

    Bizarre they choose to restrict sales to oculus in an already niche market.

    • ShiftyInc

      Not really, if your a smaller studio and you have little resources. It’s good to focus on one platform first and receive money from it, before you develop it for another platform. Plus Oculus has spend a bunch of money to help developers create games for their platform, so a developer might look at that and say we are launching on your platform first.

      • Raphael

        Nop. It’s good to receive money from multiple platforms at the same time. Unless of course u receive a massive incentive to stay on one platform.

        Defense grid is still locked to octopus rift. It could be they’re unaware that other vr systems exist. This was the case with crytek. No one told the crytek team vive had launched last year. When i broke the news to them last month they were devastated. A few team members broke down in tears while others held an emergency meeting to discuss what to do next.

        • Get Schwifty!

          A small studio may lack the resources for developing for both initially and lack VR experience, hence the reason they may have decided to work with Oculus first. Just saying, its not enough to simply declare the benefits of multiple platforms as an argument in all cases.

          • Doesn’t require much effort/resources to make it compatible with Vive eh?

            They are both the same.

          • Joe Hendrey

            It may not take much effort to make it ‘work’ on both platforms, but to have it be bug free on both is almost certainly a lot more work.

        • Bundy

          “No one told the crytek team vive had launched last year. When i broke the news to them last month they were devastated. A few team members broke down in tears while others held an emergency meeting to discuss what to do next.”

          Oh please.

          • Raphael

            Oh please…..

          • Bundy

            As if anybody actually believes that. Broke down in tears? Come on.

          • Raphael

            A recent survey revealed 87% believed it.

          • Bundy

            Thanks for identifying as a troll. Makes knowing who to block much easier.

          • Raphael

            You’re welcome flappy… happy blocking.

      • Doesn’t require much effort to make it compatible with Vive eh??

        They are both the same.

  • JesperL

    Exclusives are bad, when its is the VR market overall that need to grow.

    • Get Schwifty!

      You see the frustration Oculus owners feel when they see a “Vive only” title…. and don’t forget about Revive, there’s no reason to believe that hack won’t work with this title as well. The “exclusives are bad, m’kay” argument has relatively short legs in the Oculus “walled garden” cry IMNSHO.

      • Raphael

        There isn’t a HTC exclusivity policy though. That’s the difference. HTC has an inclusive stance.

        So you’re talking about non-HTC funded independent vr games the vast majority of which work on oculus too.

        Revive is a hack although it’s great… I personally won’t support any developer who excludes vive. So no… I don’t buy any games on oculus for my vive.

        • Punk0

          HTC isn’t pouring money into development of VR games, either. Oculus Studios have been financing high quality games that never would have seen the light of day without their help. They are under no obligation to put them on Steam and give Valve 30% for the privilege. Just like you’re under no obligation to buy from the Oculus store, but you’re the one missing out in the end.

          • No Vive user is missing out.

            It is not Oculus who places all games funded by them in their store, so therefore it is the Devs decision after some time.

          • Punk0

            I’m saying that if you aren’t buying Oculus Studios games because you don’t like the fact that they are exclusives, you are the one missing out. I know of no Oculus Studios produced games on Steam. They funded games like Robo Recall, Lone Echo, Wilson’s Heart, etc., but I’ve heard nothing about them being timed exclusives. I’ve seen games release in the Oculus store and come out later on Steam, but they weren’t produced by Oculus Studios.

          • Well, there is no reason for “timed exclusivity” if its not funded by Oculus.

          • Punk0

            Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Oculus, etc. All have paid developers for timed exclusivity on games they didn’t develop. I don’t get your point. My point is simple: If you refuse to buy games from the Oculus store because you don’t think Oculus should be producing exclusive games, then you are missing out on playing those exclusive games. It’s your choice, but I’m certainly not boycotting Steam because some of the VR games there don’t play on my Rift. It would be an empty gesture that would only hurt myself, and to a very tiny extent, VR developers. I’m still waiting for the VR exclusivity agreement with Sony for RE7 to expire so it can come out for Rift/Vive. I’m not going to whine about it and boycott Sony, though. I find that to be a childish attitude.

  • Andreas Zetterström

    So there is co-op and PvP, but is there single player?

  • bschuler

    Skyworld, for anyone who doesn’t enjoy exclusives. http://store.steampowered.com/app/342190/Skyworld/

  • Jordan Myfirstname

    where is it
    just tryin to buy the damn game here